Using 1:1 Devices and Direct Instruction?
Using 1:1 devices usually brings up questions about teaching how direct instruction works.
Let’s take some time to show you this process with my Smart Slides. In every Smart Slide Deck, there is a slide that looks like this:
As you click on the Examples link, you will find the direct instruction problems open and make a copy. This copy will be saved in your and your students Google Drive.
These are the problems that we use for direct instruction within a traditional setting. Students have their Chromebooks closed during the teaching, and the teacher is working the problems whole group instruction.
My students have 90 minutes in a class period, and research shows that you can only hold students attention fully for about the number of years they are old. Which in my class translates to about 16-17 minutes where my students are actively listening.
I believe this research, so I make the most out of my minutes for direct instruction. Even the best-behaved students cannot listen to the teacher talking for more than about 20 minutes.
Guided Notes
My students have the option of Guided Notes that come with the Smart Slides to use during the direct instruction. (With the purchase of Smart Slides – Geometry Edition, each unit comes with guided notes what directly match the specific teacher time problems in each lesson.)
The Guided Notes are powerful because you do not have to wait for students to copy down the problem and the diagram that goes with the problem. The student has their copy of the problem they may mark on and work out, and parents have a reference for helping their child at home.
Here is an example one of the pages for the guided notes, the pages are numbered for ease for the students to keep in 3 ring binder. The students can add Guided Notes to their notebook as they move forward in the class.
Learning Targets and Checklists
Also, there is a checklist for students to make sure they have completed the components of the Smart Slides.
I have found many students like the checklist, so they know what is left in the lesson to complete. You will notice that the Teacher Time (direct instruction) is only a small part of the lesson. The rest of the lesson is interactive, giving me, as the teacher, time to connect and work with individual students.
I allow my students to decide how they complete the notes as well. It is student choice in my Geometry class, and my students enjoy the option of the guided notes.
Direct instruction is an important time in my classroom, but it is not the whole show. The direct instruction portion of my classroom is intentional and gives my classroom a variety of activities so that I am connecting with students with a variety of learning styles.
Get a sample of the Smart Slides for Geometry here.
